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Congressman Cohen Votes to Make Lynching a Federal Hate Crime

June 12, 2019

Press Release

Measure named for 1955 lynching victim Emmett Till

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, today voted to move H.R. 35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, to the House floor. The measure, named for a 14-year-old Chicago youth named Emmett Till, who was lynched outside Money, Mississippi, in 1955, would make lynching a federal hate crime. Congressman Cohen spoke in favor of the measure before the voice vote. See those remarks here.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

“People of a certain age are haunted by the memory of the lynching of Emmett Till just south of my district in 1955. Making lynching a hate crime during this time of increasing nationalist fervor and racially motivated violence is long overdue, and I look forward to voting for it on the House floor.”